When Gal Tayib’s high-risk pregnancy became a medical emergency at 33 weeks, specialists at Rambam Health Care Campus (Rambam) moved quickly to save two lives: hers and her baby’s.
In 2020, physicians diagnosed Netanya resident Gal Tayib (29) with myasthenia gravis, a chronic, potentially life-threatening autoimmune disease that disrupts communication between nerves and muscles. For years, the disease remained dormant until she became pregnant. The pregnancy triggered a flare-up and tragically ended in miscarriage.
Thereafter, Tayib began a first-of-its-kind biological therapy in Israel under the supervision of Dr. Shahar Shelly, director of the Department of Neurology at Rambam. Once her condition stabilized, and while under close medical supervision, she conceived again.
The pregnancy progressed well, but during the final trimester—against a backdrop of security tensions and growing anxiety—Tayib faced another battle. Her myasthenia symptoms worsened, including drooping eyelids and severe muscle weakness. Despite increased medication dosages and the addition of steroid treatment, her condition continued to deteriorate. Tests performed at the hospital then revealed severe preeclampsia, creating an immediate danger to both Tayib and the fetus.
Dr. Yaniv Zipori, director of Obstetrics B at Rambam, explains that the treatments for the two conditions conflicted with one another. “Because of her underlying condition, our options were limited,” says Dr. Zipori. “We had no choice but to proceed toward delivery with one clear goal—to keep both mother and baby alive. In effect, the delivery itself became the treatment.”
At 33 weeks’ gestation, physicians performed an emergency Caesarean section. Simultaneously, Tayib’s medical team replaced her biologic therapy with rapid antibody-reduction treatment and plasma exchange, a process demanding extraordinary coordination among Rambam’s blood bank, operating rooms, neonatal intensive care unit, and Division of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
“Rambam operated as one beating heart,” says Dr. Shelly. “Both her life and the baby’s life were in danger.”
The baby was born with myasthenia symptoms and required ventilation and specialized drug therapy. The medication is not routinely supplied, and had been difficult to obtain since 2021, but determined efforts succeeded in locating and transferring it to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
According to Tayib, he recovered quickly and improved from day to day. After approximately one month of hospitalization, he was discharged home.
After the birth, Tayib also faced breathing difficulties and severe muscle weakness, requiring plasma exchange treatment in Rambam’s Department of Neurology. Despite the ordeal, she remains determined. “It was extremely difficult,” she says, “but I still want more children. I received a gift worth everything.”
Based on an original Hebrew article that first appeared on Mako.
